Overdraw devices for archery bows found principal utility with compound bows in which the terminal outer ends of the bow limbs support high energy or cam-like wheels to which are strung cables moving generally in the plane with the drawstrings and rearwardly as the nock of the arrow is drawn rearwardly. The cam wheels and cables allow for easier drawing of the bow and better energy storage in the limbs of the compound bows.
Overdraw structures have become most useable in compound bows in order to provide draw rearwardly beyond that accommodated by a simple arrow rest on the hand of a user or a rest post immediately adjacent the handle area and in most instances are an extension of the handle. Such an overdraw adds power but increases danger to the user since the arrow in the overdraw structure is poised on some support surface in danger of being exceeded in the draw if too short of an arrow is used. Typical of prior art overdraw devices are the overdraw devices of Benny Sears in U.S. Design U.S. Pat. No. 313,059 and the overdraw system of Marlow Larson in U.S Pat. No. 4,879,988. The former simply shows a channel shaped base element and an integral arrow support element extending transversely of the channel. The latter also provides a channel-like extension and a selectively locatable arrow support element. The arrow rest portions in Sears may be selectively fixed in a particular location on the carriage.
None of the overdraw devices of the prior art as known include a precision movable carriage upon which gapped arrow support elements are mounted with the carriage biased to a forward position and in which the bias may be overcome depending upon the extent of the draw as by a tether on the carriage which is attached to a part of the bow, as for example the draw string or the cables, and set for length as desired to provide a moving arrow support in a precision alignment with the original arrow rest position and then upon release the frictional influence on the arrow by the support is reduced by the forward movement of the carriage and rest, with the consequence of the arrow moving in an improved parallelity to the line of flight.